Traditional ceiling fans and other air circulating fans that are currently available have significant limitations with airflow being generally limited to the axial flow direction and confined to an air column that is only slightly larger than the diameter of the fan itself. This has led to multiple innovations over the years to tilt, rotate or oscillate the fan body itself in order to distribute the airflow more equitably around a given area. This current device is designed to provide improved airflow distribution utilizing the model of the current single axis fans such as, but not limited to, ceiling fans. The focus of this innovation is in the unique shape of the fan blade itself. Traditionally fans have blades that are designed for directional air flow. The blades of a traditional fan are mounted radially around a center axis and rotate around this axis forcing air in the direction of the axis itself. The radially mounted blade is pitched slightly in order to force air in an axial direction when rotated around this same axis. The pitch of the blade can create airflow in either axial direction depending on the direction of rotation. Historically, simple construction and manufacturing combined with generally adequate airflow have made the currently utilized pitched flat blade design the standard blade design for more than a century. Unfortunately, this blade design is somewhat limited to a very defined columnar shaped area of desired airflow. This proposed improvement in blade shape will allow for multi-directional airflow and much greater overall effectiveness of the fan without having to change other manufactured components.
Other fan blade systems have been proposed over the years and therefore to provide clear differentiation from each of these systems the disclosures of the associated US patents are included for reference herein. Oleson et al. describes an attachable airfoil winglet in U.S. Pat. No. 8,162,613, “ANGLED AIRFOIL EXTENSION FOR A FAN BLADE”, which is clearly designed as a separate attachment with a concave lower and a convex upper surface. Cooke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,823, “AIR TURBULENCE BLADES FOR CEILING FANS” and McChord, U.S. Pat. No. 871,729, “ELECTRIC FAN”, likewise describe blade tip attachments of different shapes in order to attempt better airflow, however both are still design limited to mechanically connected attachments with the associated problems in execution and esthetics. Another attachment based blade design by Aynsley, U.S. Pat. No. 7,252,478, “FAN BLADE MODIFICATIONS”, is an attached winglet designed to “improve aerodynamics of the fan blades” and does not affect radial airflow distribution. Bird, U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,533, “HIGH EFFICIENCY CEILING FAN”, describes blades that have concave top and bottom surfaces and are tapered, twisted, and have a gentle curve with a “continuously graduated dihedral”. This design is limited in that it only minimally affects the radial distribution of airflow.
While a variety of components and features have been incorporated into fans and fan systems, it is believed that no other fan blades described in prior art have made or used the invention described in the appended claims.